Semua Bab Cursed To Love You: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Odette looked at both of them for exactly one second, then picked up her book and her wine glass and walked to her bedroom without a word."Thank you," Isla called after her."I didn't do anything," Odette said, and closed the door.They sat down on Odette's secondhand sofa, which was nothing like their furniture at home — worn in the right places, slightly too soft, a throw blanket draped over the arm that had clearly been there long enough to become permanent.Zachary looked slightly displaced in it, the way a man who owned buildings looked sitting on something that cost two hundred dollars and had been loved into a particular comfortable shape. But something about the displacement made him easier, less like Zachary Cole and more like just Zachary."Reid helped me understand something," he said."Okay.""It's not actually about the guest list.""I know it's not," she said. "I knew that when I walked out. I just didn't know the other thing yet.""It's about being watched," he said. "

He didn't answer immediately.He sat down on the kitchen stool, slowly, like the question needed him to be seated before he could think through it properly. She stayed on the counter, the plant between them on the windowsill, the city outside doing its ordinary Saturday thing.The silence lasted long enough to mean something."I chose you because of the deadline," he said finally. "That's true. I'm not going to pretend it isn't."She waited."But I fell in love with you because of you," he continued. "And those are two different things that happened to start at the same time.""How do I know that?"He thought about it for a moment, not reaching for the easy answer."Because the deadline is almost gone," he said. "The treatment is working. The timeline I built my entire plan around has basically dissolved." He looked at her directly. "And I woke up this morning and for the first time in over a year I didn't count anything. I didn't calculate. I just woke up. And the first thing I wante

Nobody said anything for a moment.The coffee cups sat between them, and the street kept moving, but the bench itself felt very still.Isla didn't reach for her hand. Didn't say anything soft or careful. She just sat there, letting the silence hold.Odette set her cup down on the pavement, slowly, and looked at Wren directly."I was engaged too," she said. "Before Sloane. You didn't know that."Wren turned to look at her."No," she said. "I didn't.""Isla knows," Odette said. "Has known for years. Never once brought it up, which I've always appreciated more than she probably realizes."Isla gave a small nod, but didn't speak."His name was Marcus," Odette said. "We were together four years. Engaged for one. Three weeks before the wedding, he told me he wasn't ready. Not that he didn't love me. Just that he wasn't ready, as if that made it kinder.""I'm sorry," Wren said quietly."Don't be, it was a long time ago," Odette said, waving a hand, though her voice didn't quite match the ges

The inside of the shop was quieter than Zachary expected, all clean lines and soft lighting, nothing like the noisy, crowded place he'd pictured.A woman with sleeves of ink down both arms looked up from behind the counter."You must be the wedding party," she said. "Caden called ahead.""I did," Caden said, entirely too pleased with himself. "I like to prepare people.""For what," Zachary said."For you," Caden said. "You have a very specific energy. She needed to know what she was working with."The artist looked between them, clearly recalibrating something."Okay," she said slowly. "Who's up first?""Him," Caden said, pointing at Zachary. "Before he changes his mind.""I haven't agreed to anything yet.""You agreed outside. I have witnesses." Caden gestured at Reid and Sloane, who had followed them in and taken up positions against the wall like men attending a trial rather than a bachelor party."I witnessed nothing," Reid said. "I was drinking.""You were listening.""I was also

Isla sat down right where she was.The coffee shop kept going around her, the espresso machine hissing, someone laughing near the counter, and none of it touched her, not for a second."What does full mean," she said. Her voice came out careful, like she was handling something that might break if she wasn't gentle with it."It means the cellular markers they've been tracking," Zachary said, "the progression indicators. They're all within normal range. She said she'd want to monitor it for another six months before she'd use the word definitively, but—""But," Isla repeated."But she used the word full."Isla pressed her hand over her mouth. Her eyes went hot and she didn't try to stop it."Where are you," she said, when she trusted her voice again."My office.""Stay there." She was already on her feet, phone wedged against her shoulder, gathering her bag and her laptop with hands that weren't quite steady. "Don't move.""I wasn't planning to.""I mean it, Zachary. Don't move."She wa